


A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes...Or a Nightmare

by GachMoBrea



Series: Fostering Strength - Side Stories [4]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: (Unspecific Time Line), AU, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Blood, Brotherly Love, Canon divergeance, Emotional, Foster Family Established, Gen, Nightmares, OOC, Protective!Barry, Violence, Vulnerable!Len?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-04-30 13:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14497635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GachMoBrea/pseuds/GachMoBrea
Summary: This is set in the world where the Snart siblings grew up with the Wests & Barry Allen in one big, (relatively) happy family.Show Time Line: The Reverse Flash is dead & no other speedsters have come to Central City as of yet. Barry & Co. are just tasked with fighting off "regular" crime and the chaos that new, villainous Metahumans illicit...Foster Series Note (Spoilers!):Lisa has returned to college. Iris & Eddie have gone off on a couple's vacation. (There are some other, small, spoilers for the still-in-progress story for the next part of the series. If you don't want to wait, or you don't care, then feel free to click away at this story...)***Odd Note:I don't know how it happened, but I have the SAME Story Posted TWO TIMES!!! Since I treasure people who take the time to Comment Positively & Kudo, I can't find it within myself to delete either of the copies.SO, if you've read one of "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes...Or a Nightmare" - You've read them both. [One of the copies just has it spread out into Five (5) Chapters instead of Four (4).] ***





	1. Starting a Fight

Living in Central City without the Reverse Flash was the most amazing feeling in the world for Barry. Even walking down the same street he's walked for _years_ didn't feel the same as it did before. Cracks in the cement were smaller; bright, colorful flowers had clear smells that wafted in waves; the sky was clear blue for hours on end and the clouds that did come were morphed into the most ridiculous shapes.

Most importantly, Barry's father was acquitted of the murder he didn't commit, he was _free_ , and living in a cottage that Barry could visit _any time_ he wanted to. All of his friends and family were finally **safe**.

All Barry had to do now was keep it that way.

　

　

"I still can't figure it out." The Flash chuckles at the three looks of shock on the jewelry store thieves' faces when they turn to him. He raises his arms in a dramatic shrug, "Why do people still think they can rob stores in Central City when I'm around?"

One of the thieves raises a gun which, in a blink, is replaced with a banana.

"I just thought of doing that last night," The Flash laughs as he drops the pieces of the gun on the ground. The thieves then try to make a run for it and the speedster pauses long enough to lean forward in a mocking laugh before catching up with them, tying them up, and stopping to loom over them with his arms crossed over his chest, all before the men can even touch the back door.

"This city is under my protection," the hero tells the thieves, "I'm not about to let anyone get away with anything illegal. When you get out of prison, I suggest you find honest work because robbery is not going to work out for you."

Police sirens echo in the air and the speedster takes his leave of the captured criminals.

　

　

Barry Allen whistles as he walks into the CCPD with a bounce to his step. He greets every officer he makes eye contact with and throws a hand up to wave at Joe as he makes his way to the bottom of the stairs. His foster father is too busy reading over a report and doesn't even notice the gesture but that doesn't bother Barry in the least as he continues his happy trot to his lab.

Inside the crime lab, Len has one hand holding onto a thick book he's reading while the other holds onto a crime scene evidence box that was supporting the opened book.

"You're peppy today," the older brother drawls as he folds the corner of the left page.

"Just stopped a little crime on the way over," Barry grins proudly. "That for me?"

"It's not for your evil clone," Len returns sarcastically, book closed and slid off the box so he can give it to the scientist one-handed.

"Oh, please," the younger brother rolls his eyes as he takes the box and carries it over to his desk, "NO evil clones. No evil anything, if we can manage it. I like Central just as it is, thank you."

"Didn't you _just_ say you stopped a crime on your way here?" Len points out.

"Well, yeah, but that's small fry stuff. I can handle those types in my sleep. Besides," Barry's smile subsides slightly as his mood sobers, "It's not like I can eliminate crime _completely_. There's always going to be someone who wants to do something they shouldn't and that's where I come in."

"Wisdom aside," Len quickly pushes the topic away, "now that daddy dearest is out of the 'big house' are you making any plans for bonding?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, are you going to be living with him in the cabin in the woods? Should other people, maybe, step in to help out in the _secondary_ justice department?"

Barry stops working on the evidence to look his older brother over seriously. Len appeared to be unnaturally guarded, meaning he had something he wanted to suggest but knew would be turned down so he was trying to figure out a way to get it despite opposition. The speedster narrows his eyes in suspicion.

"What do you mean?" he repeats.

Len narrows his eyes in retaliation.

"I mean, now that others have "means" to assist you, maybe they should."

Barry puts the evidence back into the box, completely ignoring his job to focus on his brother who was looking more guarded by the second.

"You?" Barry accuses and when Len's right eye twitches he knows he's right. "You want to go out as a vigilante?"

"I prefer to call it crime prevention."

"You don't have any metahuman powers. Do you think Cisco will make you a bunch of cool gadgets so you can be Batman?"

"He already made me something."

"What did he-?" Before Barry can get angry at his best friend, he remembers the Cold Gun that was used to defeat his greatest foe. Everything then clicks into place and Barry's used-to-be happy world is turned into the Danger Zone.

"No," the speedster deadpans, resuming his work to ignore his brother's look of contempt.

"I'm not really asking here, Barry-"

"If you weren't asking, then you wouldn't bring it up with me," the hero protests. "Also, Cisco is your sworn enemy, so I doubt he'd help you behind my back."

"Ever since he broke up with Lisa, we've been cool," Len points out with a smirk his brother can _hear_.

"There was still the cold war before and he's my best friend, so don't even think of trying to pull anything with him behind my back."

"Barry, I just want to help."

"Then do it the way you already have been."

"Why can't I do both?"

"Because it's too dangerous."

"You didn't think so when I brought it up. You said there's only small fry."

"Exactly! Small fry for me, big fry for you. Just...." Barry sighs in lieu of a shout of frustration and forces a smile on his face as he looks at his brother again. "Just drop it, okay? Not only am I more capable than you on this, I also have an ace up my sleeve that's called "accelerated healing". You've got a track record of getting injured. Why would you think for a _second_ , which is equivalent to an hour for me, that I would even consider letting you put yourself in even _more_ danger?"

"Honestly, I don't know." Len's face completely shuts down, his tone lowering as his words lose all signs of life. He stands to be at eye-level with his younger brother and something in the man's blues makes Barry feel uneasy. "Goodbye, CSI Allen. I'll be back for your reports in a few hours."

"Len," Barry starts as his brother walks away but he's completely ignored so he gives up. Looking away, he notices the book the other man was reading left on his desk and he groans as he tries to decide how to return it in the least awkward way.

The brothers rarely fought. Most times, it was just Barry trying to make Len see reason regarding whomever their sisters were dating. On the few, rare times that Barry was actually right about something that Len refused to see reason for, it usually blew over after a few days, faster if someone else in the family intervened. Barry hoped this 'flight of fancy' where his older brother saw himself as a crime fighter would end quick and never come up again.

Sighing in defeat, Barry decides to take the book down to Joe's desk for Len to be able to get easier. As he walks down the stairs, he hopes his brother is out venting so he can drop it, explain how it was left on accident to his foster father, and leave without any hard feelings.

Fate decides to do the hero a favor. Joe is at his desk and Len is nowhere to be seen, leaving Barry's heart lighter and putting a genuine smile on his face as he approaches the detective.

"Hey, Joe, Len accidentally left this in my lab. Can you give it back to him for me?"

"Sure, Barry," Joe nods as he takes the book. "But why not just wait for him to come back up for it? Don't you two prefer to hang out in the lab when Len's not working a case with me?"

"Uh, yeah, but," Barry's heartrate increases as he comes up with the excuse, "I just thought he'd want it back sooner or that he'd look here for it first once he realized it was gone."

"I see..." the father nods but then looks up at his kid with a- "Are you seriously trying to lie to me right now?"- face, which makes Barry's stomach churn with guilt. "You sure that's all?"

The tone the detective uses sends the CSI right back to the first time he took something without asking and his mother caught him the next day. After he had confessed his little five-year-old heart out, she had added, 'Are you sure that's all?' to which he bawled out a promise never to do it again.

"It's nothing," Barry decides after reining in his childhood flashback. "Just....Brother stuff. I'll talk to you about it later if it becomes a big problem."

Joe looks the young man over carefully before giving in with an, "Alright."

The speedster doesn't waste time waiting for any other words, he just walks briskly out of the detective's area and right back to his lab to do his job.

　

\- - -

　

Barry _had_ hoped that Len would forgive him by the time they met up again, at least have put the issue behind him enough to be his usual cool and collected self.

What the brunette got was his older brother completely ignoring him as if he didn't exist.

The scientist had decided to personally bring the results of his tests down to Joe's desk for the man to look over and, by association, give them to Len. His brother was reading the book from earlier, his back to the younger man, and he didn't even look up from the page after Barry had offered his greetings and handed over his offering.

Naturally, Joe noticed the behavior and called his boys out on it.

"Something going on between you two?" he remarked, report resting in wait on his desk.

Len's hand paused from turning the page and his eyes snapped up to the detective.

"Did you need me for something, Joe?" he asked casually.

"An explanation would be nice," Joe replied.

"For what?" Len returned, sounding perfectly aloof of the clear problem.

"If you two are fighting, I hope you fix it before it comes to fists," the father figure practically orders. "Don't drag Iris or Lisa into it either. I hate seeing them taking sides."

The corner of Len's mouth turns downward in a look of confusion as his eyes return to his book.

Barry has to control his burning desire to hit his brother up the backside of his head as he puts on an act of "everything's fine" for his foster father.

"It's nothing, Joe," he lies. "Len's just angry at me for coming in late again. I know it's because he cares about me and that it's nothing personal."

Barry puts a little strain on "nothing personal" that he knows his brother picks up, even if he pretends to be deaf.

"Fine," Joe sighs, going to his work for something that'll make sense. Eventually, one of them will give in and come to him. They always did.

Barry smiles at his foster father in thanks for his understanding, waits behind his foster brother for several moments with no change, then decides to take his leave.

　

　

At the end of shift, Len is already gone by the time Barry comes to see him off. He had hoped to catch a ride home with his brother, maybe stay the night so they could work things out, but it was clear that the other man wasn't interested in resolving anything...at least not yet.

Barry eats because he has to then has a fitful night's sleep.

　

\--- - ---

 


	2. Round 2

The next morning, Barry goes to Len's favorite donut shop to get him a whole box of choices, stops in at Jitters for his brother's brew of choice, and brings both offerings to the man's small side-desk beside their foster father's before either of the other two even step into the building.

"You're here early," Captain Singh notes upon seeing the CSI on his way to his office. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Captain," Barry smiles. "I'm just trying to do my job."

"Well, it's about time," the captain returns, interest already lost as he closes the door on the younger man.

Five minutes later, Joe strides into the area with Len following a few steps behind.

"Morning, Barry," the detective smiles. He notices the box of donuts and single cup of coffee. "What's all this about?"

"I thought Len could use a pick-me-up," Barry answers as he looks at his brother expectantly.

The older man walks passed the offering without even glancing at it, picks up the reports from yesterday, and starts reading them without a single word to the bearer.

"If you're not interested..." Joe says, picking up the coffee. He takes a few sips of the still-hot liquid before placing it on his desk with a content sigh, eyes on his next target, the box of donuts.

Barry's heart sinks a little as he continues to stare at Len who continues to ignore him. He tries to perk up at his foster father's happy smile at the offering but falls short of actually reaching positive levels.

Joe looks at his boys and inwardly rolls his eyes at their behavior. ' _No matter how old they get, they still act like children._ ' As the head of the family, he takes it upon himself to help them fix things a little faster.

"Len, I have a job for you," Joe states after he's chewed enough to swallow the chunk of food in his mouth. His foster son closes the report folder to look at him expectantly. "Take Barry to the crime scene for the stolen elephant and see if either of you two can make out any clues that I missed."

"I was there when we got the call," Len states. "If there was anything to learn from that place, we've already learned it."

"You never know," Joe shrugs indifferently. "Maybe the criminal has returned. Maybe we did miss something. We're not all-knowing. Besides, Barry hasn't been there. Fresh eyes are invaluable to a detective, especially after working one-too many hours."

"Very well," Len allows and Barry has a moment of hope before his brother adds, "Though, with how _powerful_ and _capable_ The Flash is, I'm surprised he hasn't caught the man yet. In fact, with how great a hero he is, I can't believe anyone was able to steal an animal of that size to begin with."

' _Is that the problem?_ ' Joe wonders as he looks between his two boys. ' _Jealousy over Barry's powers? The fact that he's the hero of Central City bothers Len? Since when? After knowing about it for so long....Why is it bothering him now?_ '

Even though his foster father is lost, Barry, on the other hand, completely understands his brother's clipped words and dead-line tone.

"It just goes to show how anything can happen, even things we think are impossible," Barry points out. "So we should all be grateful that not everyone has to be out there, putting themselves in danger, when it isn't necessary."

"Not all things in the world are dangerous and that includes people," Len drawls, heading for the door, leaving his confused foster father and frustrated brother behind.

Joe turns to Barry, mouth open in preparation to ask about what's going on.

"I'll tell you later," the brunette promises, hand raised to stop the question. He jobs off at normal pace to catch up with Len, barely making it before the elevator doors close.

　

　

The crime scene is the Central City Zoo. After showing off their badges, the brothers are allowed into the habitat where the stolen elephant used to reside.

"No cameras in this particular section of the zoo," Len drones out as he examines the lock on the caged door that lead into the inner enclosure. "It happened between the hours of 1AM and 3AM. The guard was making his rounds and stopped for a bathroom break and snack, stalling him from reaching this spot sooner."

"Len, are we going to talk about it?" Barry starts, hoping to use the "outing" with his brother to clear things up with him.

"I am, CSI Allen," his brother returns. He pushes the door open and walks through the first entryway. "The other elephant that was in here was placed in the segregation stall for the time being. The zoo owners are scared she'll be targeted next."

"I'm not talking about the case," Barry points out the obvious.

"The other elephant was a male," Len continues, ignoring the others' attempt at changing the subject. "They were a breeding pair but they hadn't been put into a more private area yet because the female appeared to be disinterested."

Len had continued to walk as he spoke, ending his words as he stops in the middle of the habitat with his hands on his hips and his eyes skyward to look at passersby who curiously looked down at him.

' _I guess he doesn't want to have it out while people are around._ ' Barry figures, so he instead turns his focus on looking for anything strange. By the man-made stream on the right side of the habitat, he sees something shine against the sunshine. As he walks towards it, he notices that whatever it was had almost completely covered by the dirt under the water, leaving only a small part uncovered and exposed to the sun's rays.

"I think I've got something," Barry calls out to Len as he puts on his gloves. He takes a few pictures of the thing and where it was before reaching down to pull it up. Shaking it under the water slightly to get some of the dirt off, Barry pulls up what he already knew was a gun by the feel of it. The barrel was chromed, the shiny surface perfect for reflecting sunshine. After closer inspection, the CSI noted the weapon to be designed to fire darts, not bullets.

"A tranquilizer gun?" Len comments over his brother's shoulder as he looks the item over with him. "If they drugged the elephant, how did they get it out of here so quickly? And what could have happened that they'd drop it and leave it behind?"

"We'll have to ask them ourselves," Barry remarks, putting the gun into an evidence bag. "The serial number is intact, so we'll be able to track down the original owner."

"The gun's probably stolen."

"Then the victim probably reported and might have a clue as to who stole it."

"If they had a clue, then the police would have found whoever it was and arrested them."

"Unless they couldn't find the gun on them. No evidence means no arrest."

"Maybe the thief tossed the gun here after getting scared and it has nothing to do with our case at all."

"Maybe, probably, most likely," Barry huffs in frustration. "Are you angry that I found this? Shouldn't solving this case be more important than your hurt feelings or pathetic pride?"

Len's expression turns dark.

"Pathetic," he repeats quietly and it sends a chill up Barry's spine as he immediately regrets it. The speedster opens his mouth to make amends, his mind offering several options that don't sound appealing in the least.

"Right," Len clicks his heels together, rigidly turns towards the exit, and marches away, shoulders straight as a rod.

"Great," Barry closes his eyes as he drops his head to his chest. "I made it worse..."

　

　

Barry assumed that Len had abandoned him at the zoo, so he dragged his feet to leave. He was surprised to find the man standing beside his car they came in, waiting for him. It sent a thrill of hope through the brunette until he realized that his brother was just putting on a show. A CSI and Detective in Training for the CCPD who showed up together would have to leave together as well. The facts made Barry's heart heavy.

The silence for the entire car trip back to the station was stifling. Len seemed too eager to be away from Barry for the brunette's liking. When Joe locked eyes with his younger foster son, the hero looked away in shame, unable to face the man as he feared having to hash things out with Len again.

　

　

At dinner that night, Barry avoided the meal so that he wouldn't have to face Joe's expectant stare that would eventually force him to spill his failure out. When his foster father came to his room with the pretense of saying goodnight, the speedster claimed a crime alert and ran from the house.

The Flash made a few extra rounds in the city that night to ensure Detective West was asleep by the time he got home.

　

\- - -


	3. Falling-!

The next day was Barry's day off, so he spent it at STAR Labs. Cisco was there, messing around with the Cold Gun of all things, so the speedster decided to avoid him by running on the treadmill with the excuse of wanting to improve his speed.

"Caitlin's out for the day, bro," Cisco points out as he motions to his friend with the screwdriver in his hand. "If you go flying across the room, there's not a lot I can do for you. So don't go hurting yourself with only me around, got it?"

"I'm not planning on hurting myself, Cisco, but thanks," Barry returns as friendlily as he can. He really just wanted to blare music throughout the lab while he ran to get his mind off his brother's reluctance to see reason.

Barry lasts almost two hours before his traitorous mind asks him, ' _Why is Cisco working on the Cold Gun? Did Len ask him to do it? Are they in cahoots? Could they be doing vigilante work behind my back?_ '

The speedster tries to ignore the thoughts....but he can't. Frustrated, he stops the treadmill, takes in the calories he just burned, then stops in front of his friend, panting and already angry.

Cisco looks up from his work with a smile.

"Something up, bro?"

"Why are you helping Len fight crime behind my back?" Barry accuses, barely keeping the anger out of his voice.

"Helping who do what?" the scientist sputters. "Barry, are you okay?"

"You're working on the Cold Gun that you made," the speedster points out. "You made it for Len. It's _his_ gun. Why are you putting him in danger by helping him?"

"Barry, I don't know what Len told you but I'm not helping him with anything," Cisco says defensively, putting his tools down to have his entire focus on his angry friend. "I'm just working on the Cold Gun to make sure that it doesn't overload and blow up or freeze part of STAR Labs when we least expect it." The hero starts to deflate as his friend continues. "I know I'm not Len's "biggest fan" but I wouldn't purposely put him in danger. I thought you knew me better than that, man."

The hurt in Cisco's voice sends another wave of guilt over Barry and he curses himself for messing something else up before fixing the first problem.

"Sorry, Cisco," he starts. "Len told me he wanted to start helping out with Flash business and said- Well, more like implied.- that you'd help him by keeping the Cold Gun in working order."

"Captain Cold said _I_ would give him the Cold Gun to fight crime?" Cisco repeats, incredulously. "And you believed him?"

"I said you'd never go behind my back to do that."

"And yet you stood here and accused me of it anyway."

"I'm sorry! I just...I saw the gun, I thought of what he said, my brain was messing with me I guess."

Noticing his friend's look of distress, Cisco decides to let it go. Leaning back, he looks the other man over and offers him some peace of mind.

"Listen, dude, as great as I think it would be to fight bad guys along side you, I know better than to run head-first into danger. Especially since I don't have any superpowers to help me out. So," he draws the word out, "I'm not about to put Mr. Anger-Issues into the world of superhuman crazies. He's been pretty cool recently, so I don't even have a personal reason to be against him."

"It's because you and Lisa broke up," Barry supplies.

"Way to rub salt in the wound," Cisco remarks with faux heat.

The hero breathes out the remaining frustration as he crosses his arms over his chest to think things through.

"You want me to talk to him?" Cisco offers after a few quiet moments. "I mean, I know he won't listen to me, but maybe after enough people tell him it's a bad idea, he'll give up?"

"Thanks, Cisco," Barry smiles, glad his friend had already forgiven him for the accusation. "I think he'll get over it himself after some time. Len's a smart guy. What really worries me is the fact he could just take the Cold Gun whenever he wanted and do what he said without any of us knowing. That would be more dangerous than if he was working with me, like he wants to."

"No worries there, my friend," the scientist smiles. "I'll keep this thing locked up and hidden from Mr. Angry. He won't be able to find it unless we want him to."

"Sorry for making such a problem out of this."

"You aren't. Len is."

"He's my brother so..."

"Yeah, well, brothers are a pain. Trust me, I know."

　

\- - -

　

Barry is on his way into the precinct when Joe and Len are on their way out.

"What's going on?" he asks, paused halfway up the staircase.

"We've got a lead on the owner of the gun you found," Joe explains as he continues on, towards the parking lot. "One of his friends saw him at a bar last night, we're going to interview the bartender."

"Do you need me to come along?" Barry offers.

"You're just a CSI," Len brusquely answers.

Joe makes a face as he pauses, allowing his eldest to pass him as he looks to his younger foster son. Barry shakes his head, so the father is left to remain in the dark and catch up with Len so they can head to their destination.

　

　

In the car, Joe has every intention of bringing the clear problem between his boys up to help resolve it.

"Don't ask," Len deadpans, destroying the father's desire to step in.

　

　

There isn't much for Barry to do in his lab. Within an hour, all his work is done and all the paperwork is filed. He runs out to stop a fire and randomly helps an elderly woman cross a street before coming back to spin slowly in circles as he stares up at the ceiling.

' _Why am I so on edge?_ ' he asks himself, but he isn't given an answer.

He sighs, hands at the base of his neck for support as he switches direction for his spin.

　

　

The bartender is half-asleep but still able to supply Joe and Len with a possible address for the man they're looking for. Mr. Totras often drunkenly bragged about a place his mother left him that was still under her name, the perfect place to hide out if he ever needed it.

The address lead the duo to a white two-story in the middle of a family-friendly area. A small group of children were having a rowdy game of basketball in the large driveway of the purple house across the street.

Joe knocks on the front door while Len watches the streets. There's no reply, so Joe knocks louder and more insistently. Still nothing, so he knocks a third time.

"CCPD! Anyone home?" the detective calls through the door.

"If he's guilty, he'll run out the back," Len points out, eyes trailing to the side of the cottage in anticipation.

"Innocent until proven guilty," Joe reminds the younger man before pointing out, "He might not be in." The detective knocks one more time, repeating, "CCPD! Anyone home?"

Just as the two are turning to leave, they hear the rattle of a small chain from the other side of the door. The rattling is joined with the sound of metal sliding against metal and deadbolts being unlocked.

"This guy's scared," Joe murmurs quietly to Len.

The door handle slowly turns then the door opens a crack to reveal a single, large brown eye that practically shakes as it looks the visitors over hurriedly.

"Wh-Wh-Who are you?" a trembling voice says.

"Mr. Totras?" Joe smiles pleasantly at the crack as he stays in his spot. "My name is Detective West. This is my partner, Training Detective Snart. We're from the CCPD. Can we talk?"

"T-T-T-Talk about what?" the voice stutters harsher but the door opens a touch more.

"There's nothing to be scared of, Mr. Totras," Joe assures the other man. "I just want to ask you a few questions. You're not in trouble."

"If the c-c-cops are involved, how can I not be in trouble?" the man accuses. "You want to arrest me? Right? That's what you want? Huh?!"

The door swings open to reveal a man in shorts and a tank top holding a shotgun at the two men.

Joe and Len immediately raise their hands in surrender.

"Woah there, Mr. Totras," Joe says calmly. "There's no need to use that. I just wanted to ask you about the tranquilizer gun you reported stolen. That's all."

"Stolen? A-A stolen gun?" Mr. Totras repeats, the gun shaking in his hold. "What are you talking about? You want to kill me! You're not the cops! You're here to finish me off!"

The frightened man cocks his weapon, the barrel moving from Joe to Len as the wielder tries to decide who to point it at.

"My badge is clipped to my inner jacket," Joe says calmly, hoping the other man wasn't on some sort of drug that would make him do something drastic. "If you let me just open my jacket, you can see it. I only need to use two fingers."

"Two fingers," Mr. Totras nods in agreement, the gun stopping to point at the detective. "Don't try anything funny."

"Nothing funny," Joe assures him as he slowly reaches for his lapel. "We're really with the police. Trust me."

The detective uses his pointer finger and thumb to grab hold of his lapel and pull it back enough for the gun-wielder to clearly see the shining badge hidden within.

"Oh thank the heavens!" Mr. Totras lowers his gun and drops to his knees in relief. "You're finally here to save me!"

Joe reaches out a quick hand towards Len to grab him by the shoulder to stop him from jumping forward for the shotgun. Slowly, he starts forward and makes a show of taking the weapon from the man now sitting in a heap in front of them.

"What do you mean save you?" the detective asks as he hands the shotgun off to Len standing behind him. "Did someone threaten you? Are you in some sort of danger?"

"It's the elephant monsters!" Mr. Totras says desperately, his eyes large as he looks up at the detective, his body shaking. "They're coming for me! They blame me for stealing their king! They want my life in exchange!"

"Elephant monsters," Len drawls in disbelief. Joe jerks his hand at the other man to silence him.

"Mr. Totras, did you steal the elephant from the zoo?" the detective asks.

"I did! I did! I'm sorry!" the man calls out woefully. "I didn't know he was their king! I was only helping a friend out! He made me! I didn't mean to break the elephant monsters' law!"

"He's clearly on something," Len remarks, his phone already dialing for an ambulance.

"They'll come for you too!" Mr. Totras angrily shouts at the young man. He struggles to his feet and Joe steps in between him and Len as a human barrier. "You think you can escape them?" The guilty man laughs. "They come for you at night! The second your eyes close-" He makes a slicing motion with his hand over his neck. "-You're dead."

"Nothing's going to hurt you, Mr. Totras," Joe assures the man. "Why don't you come with us to the hospital? You can make a statement there and we can protect you. Alright?"

"Protect me? Protect me. Yes. Yes, do that. You must protect me." Mr. Totras reaches out and grabs tight hold of Joe by his sleeve. "Please! Please don't let them near me anymore! Please! I can't die yet! I don't want to die!"

"You won't die, Mr. Totras. Don't worry." Joe pats the frightened man's hand in a reassuring manner, glad that the danger had passed but even more confused about the case. ' _Did this guy help steal an elephant for drug money? Who would want to steal an elephant? Where could they be storing it? What monetary value does an elephant have? Don't tell me people are still killing them for their tusks!_ '

　

　

Barry overhears what happened and rushes to the hospital to see for himself that his family members are safe. He's relieved to see Joe and Len unharmed as they exit a hospital room.

"He's definitely on drugs," Len is saying, sparing the man lying on the bed a glance through the small window in the door.

"We'll know what after his blood tests come back," Joe agrees. He notices his other foster son and smiles at him in greeting. "What are you doing here, Barry?"

"I overheard what happened and wanted to see if you two were okay," the brunette explains.

"We're fine," his foster father affirms as he pats himself over as if to prove his words. "The gun wasn't even loaded. I think this case is a little more complicated than we originally thought, though. Looks like drugs are involved."

"I'm glad you're okay," Barry says with a genuine smile as relief washes over him. He looks to Len who completely ignores him.

"I'll wait for the results at the nurses' station," Len states, turning to walk in the direction of said area.

Joe watches his eldest go then looks to the one standing beside him as he frowns.

"Am I going to have to throw you two over my knee to get to the bottom of this?" he asks. Though there is a joke in his words, he's completely serious.

"You know how much you hate that The Flash has to put himself in danger to keep this city safe?" Barry asks, his mind set on giving up trying to fix this alone.

"Yeah," Joe says slowly. "It would be better if the guy lived his life like everyone else, stayed safe and out of harm."

"Well, the Major got it into his brain to take after Central City's resident hero." A part of Barry enjoys seeing the utter look of disapproval on his foster father's face. "Needless to say, The Flash isn't interested in having a partner."

"Is that boy mental?" Joe groans, running a hand over his hairline that was destined to fail him any day now. "Hasn't he been put in the hospital enough in his life time? He already has a dangerous line of work. He wants to throw himself into _more_?"

"My sentiments exactly," the speedster nods. "Unfortunately, the Cold Gun has given him some sort of confidence that he can become Central's Arrow."

"Next thing you'll tell me is that Cisco is hiding superpowers and prowling the streets at night fighting crime," the detective half-heartedly tries to joke to put his mind off the addition of stress added to his life. It doesn't work, so he goes on the offensive as he turns to face his younger foster son. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner? Did you catch him playing vigilante? Is Cisco helping him?"

Recognizing the worry he had himself in his foster father, Barry hurries to assure the man, "He came to me at the lab and told me he wanted to do it. I completely objected to the idea. To the best of my knowledge, he hasn't gone out and done anything yet. Cisco promised me that he'll hide the Cold Gun so that he can't."

"Good," Joe breathes out in relief. His eyes widen as he asks in alarm, "What about Hartly? What if Len goes to him and he makes one for him?"

"Hartley's in London with his family," Barry says. "Even if he agrees to helping Len when he returns, I don't think he'd know how to make what he wants."

"I don't know, that pain of a brainiac has been crafty before."

"He's pulled some tricks, but nothing he's used was originally designed by him. Remember, it was Cisco who invented the Cold Gun."

"Okay...Okay...We'll just have to hope that twerp doesn't stir up trouble once he's back." Joe decides to drop the subject as Len approaches with an opened, thin file he was reading over. The young man's face is scrunched up in confusion and his foster father asks upon his return, "What's the matter?"

"He's...not..." Len says unhelpfully.

"He's not what?" Barry asks the obvious question.

"He's not on drugs," Len answers, looking up from the papers. He hands the file over to Joe who immediately starts to read them. "There are no drugs in his system at all. The bloodwork just shows vitamin deficiencies and the like from lack of eating properly. The guys starved, not drugged."

"How is that possible?" Joe asks, his own eyes having read the report and confirming Len's statement. He hands the reports over to Barry as the boy reaches for them. "When we showed up he was wide-eyed and shouting about elephant monsters."

"Maybe they did something wrong with the tests?" Barry asks after reading the same results the other two had. "It happens."

"I'll have them take new samples and have them re-run," Len decides, turning around to stride back to the nurse's station.

"Maybe you should sneak a sample for STAR Labs," Joe quietly suggests to Barry, who nods in agreement.

　

　

Another round of tests is run but the result is the same: no drugs in Mr. Totras.

Joe, Len, and Barry are at STAR Labs with Cisco and Caitlin to discuss the case.

"I'm having a psychologist come to evaluate him tomorrow," Joe tells them. "Other than the elephant monsters, he seems sane to me. Maybe he saw something that night that freaked him out."

"The human mind is a complex, though fragile, thing," Caitlin offers.

"Do you think, maybe, a metahuman could be involved?" Cisco asks.

"Maybe a monster man that was hiding out in the elephant habitat?" Len adds and the genius nods. "Why didn't it scare the female elephant out of the enclosure then?"

"The people who stole the male might have locked it so that she couldn't," Barry supplies.

"The zookeepers haven't reported any odd behavior from the female elephant but would something like that leave scarring on an animal?" Joe says.

"We still don't even know why they stole the male elephant," Len points out.

"Clearly they're just petty poachers," Cisco states. "They would have nabbed the second elephant if they had time. Or, that mystery monster that crazy man saw scared them away before they could."

"I'm not really convinced about any of it," Len shakes his head. "Something feels... Off... I think we're missing something."

"It's too bad there weren't any fingerprints on the tranq gun," Barry quietly adds. "Our only lead is insane but not to the point that he'll oust his friends."

"He's scared the elephant monsters will kill them if he tells us who they are," Joe tells the scientists.

"Crazies," Cisco sighs.

"I'll canvass the neighborhood were he was hiding," Len volunteers. "Maybe someone saw one of his friend visiting."

He heads for the door without waiting for anyone's agreement and Joe lets him go.

"I'm going with him," Barry says after a beat, following his brother after getting a nod of approval from his foster father.

"Are they fighting?" Caitlin asks after the brothers have left.

"Major Pain wants to be a vigilante," Cisco tells her.

"That's too dangerous!" the woman protests. "You're not helping him are you?"

"Why does everyone assume I'd help him?" the genius strains out. "It's not like we're best buddies or anything! Do you know how many times he threatened my life?"

"If Barry needs any help, he can get it from Ronnie when he returns with Dr. Stein," the scientist continues.

"I said I wasn't helping him!" Cisco reminds her.

"No one's helping Len put himself in more danger," Joe tells the two. "We all know how hard-headed Len can be. Once he moves on from this bad idea everything will return to normal. As long as we all agree to go against it, he won't have any reason to push for it."

"What if Len manages to convince Barry?" Caitlin asks worriedly.

"It was Barry who gave me the third-degree when he accused me of helping Len," Cisco tells her. "There's no way on this planet that our worry-wart hero will let his precious older brother face metahumans. Even if he has the world's sickest weaponry made by yours truly."

　

　

It's nightfall by the time the brothers make it back to the neighborhood where Mr. Totras was hiding out. Barry follows Len from house to house and the older brother ignores him in favor of asking the residents if they had seen anyone else go to the Totras house. Almost everyone answers in the negative, but an elderly woman with six cats does remember someone in a black hoodie standing outside the house the day before Mr. Totras moved into it.

"I don't know who it was and I nearly called the police on him," the woman adds.

"Thank you," Len smiles, turning away as the door is closed.

"Mysterious figure in a black hoodie doesn't give us much," Barry comments as they walk away from the lady's house. "What do you want to do now?"

Unsurprisingly, the hero isn't given an answer. Len purposely walks to Mr. Totras' house and enters it through the still unlocked front door. Inside is almost pitch black, the half moon's rays through the windows the only source of light. Len tries the first light switch he sees but it does nothing.

"Electricity is probably turned off since no one was supposedly living here," Barry points out.

"There's a flashlight in my car," Len drawls out. Using his speed, Barry brings the object in seconds and puts it carefully in his brother's hand. Len grunts and Barry takes that as his form of 'thanks'.

The main floor has a front room, living room, dining room and kitchen, all of which bear no clues of Mr. Totras' friends or him even existing in the house himself. As Len heads up the stairs, a loud creak echoes in the quiet house and he freezes, ear perked in search of the origin of the noise.

"Did you make that sound?" Barry asks after a minute.

Another grunt is the brunette's reply as Len resumes his trek up the stairs.

The second floor has three bedrooms and a bathroom outside the master bedroom. Barry looks one of the smaller bedrooms over as Len takes the master. Barry finds nothing, so he checks the other two bedrooms with the same result. In the master, he finds a pillow fortress near the far window that was next to the bathroom. Len is standing behind the piled pillows, his brow furrowed as he shines the light over the makeshift hideaway hole.

"What is it?" Barry asks, not sure what his brother was seeing.

"Scared." Len tilts his head towards the window, noting how it was unlocked. "He was scared. Scared of elephants. Elephants can't climb stairs, so this place should have been safe."

Another creak reaches the brothers. Barry runs throughout the house in search of the source but he comes up empty. He stops back where he was before and finds Len collapsed on the floor, the flashlight dropped and rolled into the bathroom.

"Len!" the speedster is beside the other man in a second, checking him over for injuries. "Len! Len, wake up! Len!"

Len remains unconscious and unresponsive to Barry's voice.

There's another creak, this one louder and right behind Barry. The speedster spins, his right hand fisted in anticipation to punch whoever was there. Barry's swing goes through black air, spinning him around uselessly to fall to the ground that he immediately jumps up from in a fighting stance.

"Who's there?" he demands to know. "Show yourself!"

The room slowly gets darker. Barry blinks, rubs at his eyes as he tries to see through the growing blackness taking over his vision. Nothing works and he's soon overcome with weakness as his body falls forward.

The speedster blindly runs from the house, his body ramming into corners of walls and his feet tripping over the threshold. Outside, his vision clears as he makes it to the sidewalk just beyond the front pathway.

"Len!" he belatedly realizes he forgot to grab his brother. In a second, he's back in the house, searching for the man but he's gone. "Len!" Barry shouts, searching every inch of the house over and over and over again...Len is nowhere to be found.

' _And you wanted to fight all on your own! This must be the work of a metahuman!_ '

"Whoever you are, you better give Len back to me right now!" Barry shouts in the middle of the house, his voice echoing back to his ears like a mockery.

　

　

Len opens his eyes and frowns at the ceiling. He shakes his head of the darkness as he sits up, confused how he ended up on the groan in the first place. He looks up, expecting to see Barry. The man is gone, so he stands up and walks over the pillows to look for him.

"Barry?" he calls out, but there's no answer. "Barry! Barry, where are you?"

As Len starts down the stairs, he hears the front door open then slam shut.

"Where the #?! are you, Leo?!" an angry voice shouts out and it stops Len cold.

Hard stomps bring Lewis Snart directly into the shine of Len's flashlight.

"There you are you %&-ing kid!" Lewis Snart growls. "When I get you, I'll show you not to disobey me!"

Lewis Snart starts up the stairs and Len takes a shaking step backwards.

"How are you here? You-You can't be here!" Len shouts at the man coming up after him.

"Hoh! I'm here alright!" Lewis Snart growls. "And I'm not leaving until I've re-taught you all my lessons all over again!"

"Barry!" Len shouts, running backwards up the stairs. "Barry! Where are you?!"

　

_Barry!_

Barry spins around to look for his brother. ' _I **know** I just heard him!_ '

With no other ideas, the speedster runs back to where he last saw his brother. The darkness starts to fill his vision again and he blinks against it.

' _Could this be the metahuman?_ ' he wonders.

"Who's there?" Barry shouts out, hoping to get an answer from his enemy. Instead, he hears a faint cry of his name from his brother. A cry he can't return.

Fight or flight war inside the speedster as the darkness consumes him. ' _If this is the only way to get to where Len is_....'

Barry allows himself to be swallowed up by the darkness, lets his body become weak and to fall forward...

　

Lewis Snart reaches out for Len who kicks him in the face with the intent to send him back down the stairs. The man remains in place, the corner of his mouth bleeding as his face contorts in anger.

"I'll repay you for that, brat," he seethes, reaching for Len again.

Len kicks at the man a second time, this time getting him in chest, hoping the broader area will help loosen his enemy's grip on the railing.

Lewis grabs hold of Len during the blow and pulls him down with him to fall down the stairs, landing on top as they come to a final stop.

"Now...For lesson one," Lewis grins, unloosing his belt as he sits atop of Len who is on his side underneath him.

"N-No! Get off me! Get lost!" Len struggles to get out from under Lewis but the man is like a two ton weight, impossible to move.

Lewis folds the belt in half, holds it in one hand, and raises it above his head.

"Lesson One," he says pointedly. "You cannot escape your father."

The belt swings downward, slamming into Len's back at a bruising force that makes the man scream out in pain.

　

Barry's eyes snap open to the bedroom as he hears a sickening scream. He jumps to his feet and attempt to speed out of the room but only manages to run at regular speed. The question "Why can't I use my speed?" is put to the side as he catches sight of two people on the bottom of the stairs. One is on top of the other and holding something above their head.

"What's Lesson One?" the top person is saying, then the thing in his hand is swinging downwards, making the person under him scream.

Barry recognizes Len as the screamer and his stomach clenches while anger propels him down the stairs to throw himself at the attacker.

　

Len pants desperately for air as the second blow from Lewis tingles painfully on his skin. He claws at the floor, his nails digging into the wood for a grip strong enough to pull him away from the monster.

Then there's a force against Lewis, pushing him away from Len and allowing him to breathe a mediocre amount.

　

Barry holds tightly to the man he jumped on as he rolls him away from his brother. He doesn't let go until he hits a wall. The second he hits a solid force, he pushes away from the man and scrambles to his feet to put space between him and his enemy.

　

Len blinks the tears from his eyes to see Barry standing a few inches away, his back to him. Through his brother's parted legs, he can see Lewis Snart getting to his feet, his body rising like a blow-up doll being pumped with air.

　

"Lesson Two," Lewis Snart says menacingly as he glares at Barry. "No one can help you."

"Cut the crap! I'm right here!" Barry barks at the man. The man looked vaguely familiar but Barry was unable to put a name to his enemy. He glances back to Len who was still lying on the ground. "Are you okay?"

Len shakes himself out of his stupor and gets to his feet.

"A-Are you really here?" he can't help but ask. "Where did you go?"

"I don't know," Barry answers truthfully. "I ran out of the house when things were going dark and I think I escaped the Meta." Guilt pangs painfully in his heart. "I'm sorry, Len. I didn't get you out of here in time."

Len notices motion and he pushes the speedster out of the way as he shouts, "Watch out!"

Lewis Snart misses punching Barry by an inch, his fist instead grazing Len on the shoulder as the young men stumbles out of their attacker's way.

Without wasting a moment, Lewis Snart spins around to alter course, his fists flying before he even reaches the pair.

Len ducks out of the way of the first punch that reaches him and he runs around Lewis to escape to the other side of the room, exposing Barry who was behind him. The speedster dodges the blows that come for him as he continues to try using his powers to no avail. An uppercut catches Barry off-guard, making him see stars and taste blood as he bites down hard on his tongue.

"What are you doing?" Len shouts at him. "Fight back!"

Lewis Snart takes advantage of his landed blow by following it up with three more to his victim's ribs.

Barry spits out the blood collecting in his mouth as he stumbles back, his brain firing off questions he doesn't have time to answer as his body alerts him to pain.

After a quick search that gives him nothing to work with in the empty room, Len charges forward with a shout, grabbing hold of Lewis Snart around the middle and forcing him forward and into the wall. The move injures his forearms but Len bears with it as he uses his weight to throw Lewis to the ground, away from himself and Barry.

With their opponent on the ground, Len grabs Barry by the wrist and drags him into a run for the front door.

The door's hand turns to dust in Len's hand.

"What?" he snaps in shock, staring at his hand as if it could explain what just happened. Looking up, he slams his shoulder into the door, but it doesn't budge. He tries again and again but the door remains firm, as if it were supported by a brick wall.

Lewis Snart groans as he starts to get to his feet, so Len drags Barry to the back of the house. There is nothing but wall where the second door should be. Len lets go of Barry as he runs both hands over the smooth surface of the wall. His heart beats in his head as he slams his fists against the unmoving barrier trapping him inside.

"Who is that guy?" Barry asks as he hears his brother curse.

"Someone who's supposed to be in jail," Len answers, turning his attention to the kitchen to search for a weapon. After going through every cabinet and drawer, he finds a single, bent fork. He looks to his brother, "Why aren't you using your powers? Are you seriously afraid of 'outing' yourself right now?"

"You think I'd worry about that with your life on the line?" Barry angrily returns. "I _can't_ use my powers! I tried!"

"What?" Len's hold on the fork gets tighter. "What do you mean you _can't_?"

"I mean I can't!" Barry reiterates. He looks around and locks his eyes on the closest window. "Let's just break out of here and get help from the others. Maybe they can explain what happened to my powers."

"Others. Help." Len pats himself down as his brother goes to the window. He voices his realization, "My cellphone's gone."

"Mine too," Barry knows without checking. The weight of the device was gone from his back pocket. He tries to open the window but it remains stuck in place. He checks if it's locked and inadvertently realizes that there is nothing beyond the window. "Len," he breathes out as he stares at black. "I don't think we're in the house anymore."

"What do you mean?" Len asks, stepping over to his brother to see what he was seeing. He takes in a breath as he sees the blackness. Looking to the other visible windows, he sees that they are exactly the same.

"We're trapped," Barry states. "In some sort of..."

"Nightmare," Len finishes for him.

"Whose?" his brother asks, turning to look at him.

Len's heart sinks through the floor.

"Mine."

Lewis Snart appears behind Len and he wraps an arm around the young man's throat, pulling him backwards and onto his tip toes as he bends him backwards.

"Let him go!" Barry orders.

Gagging for air, Len holds tight to the fork in his hand and drives the prongs of it as hard as he can into the arm around his neck. It doesn't phase Lewis, so he does it again and again until the arm finally lets him go. Len falls forward and into Barry's awaiting arms. The brunette pulls his brother away from their attacker and puts himself in between them as a human shield.

"I know you're out there, whoever you are!" Barry shouts into the air as he and Len back away from Lewis Snart. "We're not your enemy! We won't hurt you! So can you please let us go?"

"You think a metahuman has us captured with their powers?" Len guesses after his brother's words are met with Lewis Snart's heavy breathing.

"There's no other explanation that makes sense," Barry answers.

"Lesson Three," Lewis Snart says then licks the bleeding wound on his arm. Smiling, he continues, "Blood is thicker than water."

"This man is psychotic," Barry surmises. "Why do you know him?"

Len is grateful for Barry being in front of him instead of behind. This way, his brother can't see how his hands shake at the very sight of the man before them.

"He's...He's..." Len can't bring himself to say it, so he decides to avoid it. "It doesn't matter who he is. What matters is how we're going to survive this. Mr. Totras was alive when Joe and I came for him. Why are we being targeted for death?"

"Nightmare," Barry realizes. "Len, if this is a nightmare, then maybe none of this is real."

"My bruises feel real, Barry," Len grouses out.

"That's because we're in a dream. In your _mind_ , you think you've been injured. You're feeling pain because your brain is telling you that you that you _should_ be feeling pain!"

"So, I just tell my brain to 'stuff it' and everything goes away?" Len snorts despite the situation. "I think I'll stick with avoiding injury from the superhuman psycho in front of us."

Lewis Snart charges forward, arms extended and hands posed for a choke hold that's aimed for Barry's neck.

Barry side steps and pushes his opponent towards the window, using the other's own momentum to send him into the glass. Glass shatter from the window but it remains intact.

"What?" Len snaps in disbelief.

Grabbing a large piece of the glass, Lewis Snart pushes himself back up to his feet.

"This isn't going to end until we end it," Barry says, hoping he was right as much as he thought he was. "None of this is real. We're dreaming. We have to break out of this metahuman's control."

Barry steps towards Lewis but Len grabs his wrist and pulls him back to stop him.

"Are you crazy?" he snaps. "You're going to walk _towards_ a man with a weapon?" He drags his brother away from their opponent and back up the stairs where they started while yelling, "Why not just kill me instead? I don't want to explain this to Joe. Forget telling your birth Dad. It's not going to happen!"

"Len, this can't be real!" Barry protests as he's dragged.

"Just because it shouldn't happen doesn't mean it isn't!" Len counters angrily. "Life isn't supposed to suck when you're a kid but it did! Your mother isn't supposed to abandon you to suffer alone but she has! Your dad isn't supposed to be a monster but he is!"

Inside the master bedroom, Len slams the door closed and lets go of Barry in order to move a dresser in front of it as a blockade.

' _Why is there only furniture in this room?_ ' Barry can't help but wonder. There was nothing downstairs, save a single fork, and the other bedrooms were also bare, but the master bedroom was fully furnished along with an enormous amount of pillows.

"Whatever's happening to us, the others will figure it out," Len says confidently. "After we've been missing for long enoug, they'll come to find us. Joe will know where we went, Cisco will freakily figure this out, Caitlin will patch us up afterwards, and I will not go into work tomorrow."

Looking away from the pillow fortress, Barry notices how heavily Len is leaning against the bed in the room. He realizes his brother is holding himself up and that there's a faint tremor in his arms as he does so.

"Len?" The brunette approaches his brother carefully as the words the other said on the stairs finally sink in. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," Len spits out, his hand gripping tighter to the bed.

"Don't worry," Barry puts a hand on his brother's shoulder, "I'll protect you."

"Protect me?" Len laughs. He pushes away from the hand and turns around to glare at his brother. "You? With what power? You're as pathetic as I am now, Barry. What exactly do you think you'll be able to do to protect me?"

"Whatever it takes," Barry vows. "Even if it means throwing myself in front of that crazy man so that you won't be hurt."

"And you think that'll save me?" Len booms, grabbing hold of the front of Barry's clothes in two clenched fists. "I guess all our time together meant nothing to you, dear foster brother, because seeing you be killed by my father is not how you save me!"

Barry's world zeroes in on the word "father" and he almost forgets to breathe. Len's eyes widen as he realizes he said something he didn't mean to and he pushes Barry away as if physical space will do something for him.

"Your father?" Barry doesn't really mean it as a question but it comes out as one anyway. ' _How can someone like that have managed to have kids? How drastically has Mr. Snart changed in this nightmare world?_ '

"He's supposed to be in Iron Heights after his last failed attempt at robbery ended with a murder charge," Len admits quietly. "He's not supposed to be out. He's supposed to be behind bars." His fists shake at his sides. "He's not supposed to be a super human who barely bleeds."

The door shakes as it's beaten against by the man on the other side of it. Len looks around the room, opening drawers and checking around the furniture for makeshift weapons to use. He settles for a black, leather belt and holds it in his hands tightly in anticipation for the door to be broken down.

In the back of his brain, Barry vaguely remembers a news bulletin about an escaped convict that he saw when he was still a teenager. He remembers Len trying to make a break for it, Joe going after him and getting hurt somehow before coming back. The details are a bit of a blur, though, and the stress of his current situation isn't helping clear up his lacking memories.

"Geeze, Cisco, what's taking you so long?" Len grumbles as he checks his watch. "All those supposed 'brains' and you can't get a couple of guys out of the Twilight Zone?"

Barry checks his own watch and stares at the digital readout that remains frozen in place. Time didn't even exist wherever it was they were. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that they were trapped in some sort of nightmare created by a metahuman. He just had to figure out a way to get them out of it before Len could be hurt again by the copy of his evil dad. He had to protect his brother, no matter what.

"Len, I have an idea," Barry says, gaining his brother's focus as he turns to him. "Why don't you hide in the bathroom and I'll let that guy in here? When he comes for me, you rush out of the bathroom and shove him into the closet. We can shove the dresser in front of it after that, trapping him instead of us being stuck."

"Good idea," Len agrees. "But you should be the one to hide. He's after me."

"He attacked me too, remember?" Barry argues. "You're more injured than I am, so I'll be able to dodge him better than you."

The door bends inward, moving the blockade slightly out of the way.

"We don't have time to fight about this," Barry says, grabbing his brother by the arm and forcing him towards the bathroom. "Just wait for my signal, okay?"

Len hesitates in the doorway, his nervous eyes shifting from his brother to the slowly opening door a few times before his shoulders drop in defeat as he grumbles out a displeased, "Fine!"

Barry smirks for the small victory and pushes his brother further into the bathroom before heading to the blockage. He pulls the dresser out of the way enough for Lewis Snart to push his way through the door.

"Lesson Four," Lewis Snart sneers, eyes locked on Barry. "Disobedience will not be tolerated."

"I'm getting really tired of your so-called lessons, you jerk," Barry says defiantly. "Why don't you go crawl back into the pit that you came from?"

"Children need to be taught," Lewis Snart returns as he slowly walks towards the brunette. "Without lessons, they will run wild."

"From what I've gathered, growing up on the streets would be better than living with you," Barry replies. He glances at Len to make sure he's staying put and smiles in relief to see his brother listening to him, keen eyes on the lookout for the signal Barry said he'd make. It sort of made him feel bad for what he was about to do.

When Lewis Snart inevitably charges for Barry, the brunette calls out for his brother to charge. Len rushes forward but in the last second, Barry pulls their enemy out of the way, sending his brother into the closet instead.

Len stumbles to a stop right before hitting the closet, confused after hitting nothing but air. He turns around to run back out of the closet but the door closes as he makes his first two steps. He continues forward at top speed, hand extended to turn the knob that works but the door barely opens a crack, something on the other side blocking him.

"Barry!"

 

Len's voice shouts through the closed door as the brunette finishes shoving the dresser in front of it. Lewis Snart is rising up from the floor on the other side of the bed where Barry threw him, his eyes red and angry as he glares at his remaining opponent.

　

"Barry, let me out!" Len demands as he bangs his fists on the door. "What are you doing, you idiot! You can't fight him alone!"

　

Swallowing down his fear and doubts, Barry stands fast in front of Lewis Snart who approaches him in slow, steady steps.

"You're in my way," the man hisses. "There's no point in keeping you around."

"I won't let you hurt Len," Barry tells his enemy. "You're not real. This is all a nightmare. One I'm going to put a stop to."

From behind his back, Lewis Snart pulls out a large shard of glass. He chuckles as he comes to a stop in front of the brunette, Len's pounding protests background noise to the two as they stare each other down.

"Die," Lewis Snart orders, slamming the shard into the young man's stomach.

Barry's body convulses forward with the force of the stab, the world around him turning into agonizing pain as tears sting his eyes. The shard is ripped out of his body then stabbed back into him, stealing away his breath and numbing his legs.

Lewis Snart takes the shard out again and the hero falls to his knees, his hands pressed against the rapidly bleeding wound. He crouches down to take a full handed grip of the brunette hair.

"What a useless child," Lewis whispers. He shoves Barry away by his hair, sending him to the side.

Pain wracks throughout Barry's body as he desperately tries to hold himself together. His stomach is burning as every nerve in his body fires of in agony. He can't move, can't take in a full draw of breath. He can only pull himself into a semi-balled up state and watch helplessly as Lewis Snart moves freely through the room.

' _I was wrong?_ ' Barry bemoans as Lewis moves the dresser out of his way. ' _Why? This doesn't make any sense! None of this should be happening!_ '

As desperately as Barry wants to make the pain stop, to force himself awake from the nightmare, nothing he does works. The pain is too real. The blood slipping through his slick fingers and pooling in front of him is too vivid. Whatever was happening was far worse than any nightmare.

　

After his fists proved to be useless, Len switched to his shoulder in an attempt to move the blockage keeping him in the closet. Over and over, he uses his body as a ram, hoping each attempt will be the one that sets him free.

' _You better be alive when I get out of here, Barry!_ ' he thinks angrily as he shoves himself against the door again, his chest heaving as he becomes more and more exhausted. ' _How am I supposed to keep you safe if you keep stopping me?_ '

As he rears back, the door suddenly opens and a hand reaches in. It grabs Len by the shoulder he was ramming with and drags him out of the closet, throwing him to the floor once he's free.

Len slides against the wood slightly and stops in something wet. Eyes widening, he realizes it's blood and his heart stops when he sees Barry lying beside him, motionless and looking dead.

"B-Ba-" Len can't get the name out as he scrambles to be in front of his brother to look him over. ' _NO!_ '

Barry feels hands on himself and he's confused why he can't see who it is until he realizes he accidentally closed his eyes. Forcing them open again, he sees Len's worried face in front of him and guilt overtakes the pain for a moment.

Lewis Snart steps behind Len and Barry's eyes widen in alarm as the monster grabs his brother by the back of his neck to drag him to his feet.

"Lesson Five," Lewis barks in Len's ear as the younger man struggles in his grip. "Anyone who interferes should be killed."

"I... _will_...kill you," Len forces out as he tries to loosen the fingers on his neck. He jabs his elbow backwards a few times, then spins. The maneuver eventually work well enough for him to break free and move away a few steps.

Len pants as he sizes up his opponent. Lewis still had the glass shard in his hand and didn't appear to be bothered by any of his wounds.

"You were a burden since you were born," Lewis says as he steps towards Len. "No man deserved to have such a useless child."

"You're not a man," Len counters. "You're just a monster who masquerades as one."

Taking the belt he had earlier, Len grips it tightly in both hands as he plants his feet in anticipation of his next move. Lewis continues to walk towards Len and when he's an arm stretch away, the younger man attacks.

Len starts forward, ducking under Lewis' swipe and side stepping the man's body to get at his back. He spins to stay ahead of his opponent who tries to follow after him then swings the belt over Lewis' head, wrapping it around the man's neck and pulling it tight in a chock hold.

Lewis Snart reaches back with both hands to get at his attacker but Len leans just out of reach, his grip on the belt as tight as the choke it has on his opponent.

After a moment, Lewis begins to sway on his feet. Len maintains the chokehold even as the monster collapses to the ground, falling flat on his face.

Len waits for several panting seconds, the air around him settling to the suffocating silence only broken by his own breaths. Shaking his head, he stumbles off Lewis' body and slides behind Barry's to shake his brother by the shoulder.

"Barry!" he cries, seeing no color in the other man's face. Len puts his hand over Barry's bloody one that lay lax over his gruesome wound and he pushes down as hard as he can. "Stay with me!" he begs, hoping their rescue would happen any second now. "Barry!"

　

Barry hears a strange voice. It sounds like Len's....but it's so desperate and full of sadness that it can't possibly be his calm and collected brother.

Then his brain shocks him with memories and his eyes slowly open to the nightmare he was still trapped in.

His entire body is numb, a dead weight of mass that he can't control. Somehow, he manages to turn his head enough to see his brother's face. Tears are starting to fall from Len's eyes, a few of them dripping down onto Barry's face.

' _I'm sorry, Len._ ' Barry wants to say, but he doesn't have any strength for that.

　

Through his fuzzy vision, Len sees Barry open his eyes and his aching heart dares to hope for the best.

"Barry!" he calls to his brother. "Barry, stay with me! You're going to make it, you got that? Do you understand me, Barry? I'm your older brother, so you have to listen to me! Do you understand?"

　

' _Why couldn't I do anything?_ ' Barry scolds himself. ' _Why couldn't I save you?_ '

Though his body is lifeless, his heart aches for the thought of what Len must have gone through before coming to live with him at the West house. If this Mr. Snart was anything like the one Len had as a child...Barry's body shudders all over.

　

"What? What is it?" Len frowns in worry as he feels his brother's body shudder in his arms. "Barry? Barry, stay with me!"

　

Barry tries to smile to assure his brother but a shape behind the man sends his efforts elsewhere. He wants to shout out to warn Len, wants to move his arms just enough to shove his brother out of harm's way.

But he can't even moan.

　

Lewis Snart wraps the belt around Len's neck and pulls it tight, strangling his strangler with his own weapon.

Alarm spikes hard throughout Len's body as he lets go of Barry to react against the attack, his hands clawing at the belt desperately to get it off his neck so he can breathe.

　

Barry is forced to watch, helpless, as his brother is strangled right beside him.

　

Len twists and turns, punches and claws, but the pressure on his neck doesn't let up.

The world hazes, then darkens, sending him into another black abyss that feels almost welcoming.

　

Len's body slumps, lifeless, and Barry closes his eyes as they spill over in tears.

Barry stops fighting, stops feeling. He just stops and allows the nothingness take him.

 

 --- - ---


	4. Rising Up

"Beep" * "Beep" * "Beep" * "Beep" * "Beep"

　

' _What is that annoying noise? A heart monitor? Why is there one of those in the afterlife? ...Unless..._ '

Barry gasps to wakefulness, his body jerking to a sitting up position in the medical bed he finds himself in. He looks around in desperation for Len and only when he sees his brother lying in the bed a few feet away from him does he resume breathing.

The hero moves out of the bed, ignoring the monitor's protest as he pulls the wires off his body as he walks to his brother's bedside. He takes the other's hand in his own, needing to feel the warmth of his skin to know he was indeed alive and before him.

Caitlin rushes into the room, breathless and frazzled looking until she sees the speedster standing and uninjured.

"Barry!" the scientist scolds as she approaches her friend. "Why are you up? You set the alarms off. I thought you had gone into cardiac arrest!"

The doctor tries to usher her patient back into his bed, but he remains steadfast and unmoved in his spot.

"What happened?" Barry asks, eyes on Len as he remains unconscious before him.

"When you and Len were gone for too long, Joe went to the house to look for you," Caitlin explains, hoping once her friend has the answers that he'll lay down again. "He didn't find either of you, so he called us to help. Cisco discovered an invisible force camouflaging you in the house and he built a disruptor to get you out of it. You were both unconscious, your brain patterns all over the place and heartrates through the roof. Even though your bodies were unaffected by outside stimulation, your minds were going at full force in what I can only assume was some sort of dream world."

"Not a dream," Barry corrects darkly as his brain vividly remembers what he went through. He slides his free hand under his shirt and touches smooth skin, no trace of a scar building on a wound that never happened. "A nightmare." He turns to his friend. "Did you find the metahuman who did this to us? How did you wake us up?"

"I didn't," Caitlin admits sadly. "There wasn't anyone at the house and no matter what I did, you two wouldn't wake up."

The scientist takes the hero by the arm gently and manages to ease him back into the bed. She turns off the machines and sets away the wires as her patient settles in the bed, his eyes still on the man in the other bed.

"What about Len?" Barry asks. "When will he wake up?"

"I don't know," Caitlin answers. "You woke up on your own, so I can only assume he will as well."

"Someone did this to us," the speedster states firmly. "This wasn't a strange occurrence. A meta _did this_." He looks up at his friend. "We have to find them. I have to make sure they can never do this sort of thing again."

"I'm sure we'll find them," the scientist assures her friend. "But, for now, just rest a little. After I call Joe to tell him you're awake, I'd like to run some brain scans to see if everything is back to normal."

"Do whatever you have to," Barry says. "But as soon as you're done, I'm going to track down that meta."

　

　

Joe rushes into the medical wing of STAR Labs and visibly relaxes at the sight of his boys, though one of them is still unconscious.

"How are you feeling?" he asks first as he approaches Barry's bedside.

"Like an idiot," Barry admits unhappily. He glances to his brother. "Len's still out of it and Caitlin hasn't cleared me yet. I need to get out of here and find the metahuman who did this to us, Joe."

"You will," the father assures the young man with a raised hand. "But why don't you go over what happened with me first, okay?"

Even though every fiber of Barry wants to run off and find the unknown meta, he knows the best first step is to go over what already happened.

"Len and I talked with the neighbors and only learned that there was some guy in a hoodie outside the house before Mr. Totras showed up. Len went to the house to have a look. When we made it into the master bedroom I heard this noise but I couldn't find the source. When I got back to the room, Len was unconscious and this...this darkness started to overtake me." He clenches his fists tightly in the material of the blanket under him. "I left him. I left Len, Joe. How can I call myself a hero when I do something so monumentally stupid as that?"

"What do you mean?" Joe asks, confused. "We found you two together. You didn't leave Len."

"I did!" Barry insists, so angry at himself that he's unable to even look in his foster father's direction. "When things started going dark, I ran from the house. I left Len behind! When I ran back in for him, he was gone! The meta had already sent him to that-that _nightmare_." Body shaking slightly now, he turns his head sharply to look at his still sleeping brother. A cruel thought makes him choke out, "What if he's still in there?"

Joe places a hand on his kid's shoulder and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

"If he is, and I'm not saying that he is," he hurriedly makes sure to say. "but even if he were, we'll get him out of it. Mr. Totras wasn't lost in some nightmare world. We found him, got him out of the house and he's actually calmed down after seeing a therapist."

"Then why isn't Len awake yet?" Barry asks, voice almost breaking.

"Maybe he's just tired," Joe tries to joke but it's far too flat to do either of them any good. "Listen," he gives the shoulder another squeeze. "I can't have you falling apart on me just yet. The best way to help Len is to get to the bottom of this. Now, Cisco has a way to see whoever it is, but we'll still need you to catch him."

The speedster nods as he turns to push himself off the bed. He steps away from the hand without even glancing at his foster father. His eyes are steadfastly forward, ready to take on his soon-to-be defeated foe. Whoever it was, he wasn't going to give them any mercy. No matter their sob story, he would make them pay for putting others in such torment. Who did they think they were to manipulate others? Did they honestly assume that sending people into nightmares was funny? That it served some sort of sick, twisted purpose? Barry almost laughs at the thought. This meta was going down. He partially hopes it's a guy. Guys are easier to punch than ladies. But he'll still hit a lady if that's who it ends up being.

　

Before following one foster son out of the room, Joe pauses to look worriedly at the other.

"Get up already, will you?" he mumbles to the unconscious man. "You're brother isn't looking to good."

The father then hurriedly walks out of the room so as not to be left behind or put in the dark of the plan.

　

　

"O-Kay!" Cisco loudly brings his hands together in a victorious clasp for his audience of three. "Yours truly, being a fast learner in all things unexplainable, has found the metaphorical pin for the nearly literal bubble which Sleepy Hollow has created."

Barry remains visibly unaffected as he impatiently waits for the important part of his friend's speech.

"I know," the scientist allows. "Poor name, no flair, but when thinking of the things that I fear, that legend popped into my head. Besides, I was in a rush after hearing the details and tasked with coming up with a countermeasure, so expecting something awesome is a bit task master of you."

As patient as Barry wants to be, he can't quite find it in him to allow his friend to go on and on, so he snips, "The point, Cisco."

"Well, I just so happen to have this special pair of goggles that'll make the headless man of mystery turn visible and therefor catchable." Cisco lifts up a bulky pair of nigh vision looking goggles for everyone to see. "They're battery operated but, with your speed, I doubt it will take very long to find our meta."

In a blast of speed, Barry is The Flash and holding the goggles in his hands inquisitively, wondering how to put them on and how to work them.

"Give it here, dude!" Cisco orders, snatching them back with a huff of indignation. "A few more seconds for explanation won't hurt anything."

"I don't want to waste a single second," Barry replies, eyes so stuck fast on the goggles that he doesn't notice everyone else in the room exchange looks of worry.

"Will these goggles be enough?" Joe asks as Cisco puts them on the speedster. "Should we be worried about Barry needing some sort of weapon as well?"

"Joe has a point," Caitlin agrees nervously. "We don't even know how this metahuman activates their powers or how they work. I don't think it's wise to run head first back into a situation that we have so little information on."

"I'm not going to stand around and let the meta escape," Barry says with conviction. "There's a low chance they'll even still be in the house. After so many people have been there, they probably ran off."

"What are you going to do if they have run off?" Cisco asks, finished with fixating the goggles and stepping back.

"Search all fo Central City for them," the speedster answers, then runs from the room in a blaze of lightning.

　

After the wind settles, Caitlin looks to Joe with large, worried eyes.

"Should we be worried about him?" she asks.

"There's nothing we can do to stop him at this point," Joe points out. He sighs briefly before asking the female scientist, "Can you keep a close watch on Len for me? Let me know when he wakes?"

"Of course," Caitlin nods and that's all the detective needs to allow himself to leave the building and trail after Barry.

　

　

Barry stops outside of the house from before to look it over. Even in bright daylight, it seems more ominous and evil, as if the very lines of the siding were thin daggers waiting to stab him through. The dead branches of the surrounding trees were tendril fingers reaching out for his very soul and the roof was so weak it could crumble on top of his body, turning him to dust.

But none of that was enough to stop Barry from entering through the portal of darkness that existed beyond the average-looking door.

The hero goes straight for the master bedroom. He looks over the entire room slowly, making sure to be very careful so as not to miss his prey.

There's nothing there.

Barry makes sure to check the closet and bathroom before looking over the bedroom a second time. When he still comes up with nothing, he goes through the rest of the house and gets the same result: He doesn't see anyone.

' _Figures! The meta ran off. They knew I'd come for them after what they did!_ '

A reasonable part of Barry's mind tries to point out that the metahuman most likely didn't know of his alter ego. He _had_ run throughout the house the night before with his powers but it was at his usually, blink-fast speed that they'd most likely not have noticed.

Frustrated, the hero leaves the house to check the rest of the city, determined to find someone standing inside a crowd when no one else could see them.

　

　

An entire day passes.

There's no sign of the mysterious metahuman.

The Flash ignores the calls of help from skyscraper cleaners; they are rescued by the fire department after eight hours of dangerous maneuvers.

A group of teenagers set a second-hand shop on fire and, due to the skyscraper rescue, the firefighters comes late to the scene. The shop is completely destroyed, as well as the two shops attached to it.

Cisco, Caitlin and Joe all try to contact Barry in an attempt to get the hero to detour to save the day, but their calls are ignored. Their pleas are answered with silence.

　

　

Night falls on Central City once more. The Flash stops outside Mr. Totras' house to find Joe sitting on the front stairs, waiting for him.

"It's too dangerous for you to be here!" Barry scolds his foster father as he stands in front of him. "What if the met comes back and hits you with their powers? Do you want to be sent into a nightmare?"

"No thanks, I'm already in one," Joe answers tiredly as he looks up at the hero with a disappointed expression on his face.

"I've been busy," the hero says, as if those simple words were enough to explain everything.

"It's only been a day and you've given me a new level of stress," his foster father tells him. He leans forward to rest his forearms on his knees as he continues to stare at his kid. "Do you think Len will be happy to hear how you've handled things while he was sleeping?"

"He's still sleeping?" Barry asks, fists clenching tightly at his sides. Looking away, he asks, "Why?"

"I don't know, Barry," Joe answers, even though he knew the question wasn't really for him. "And I can't spare what little mind I have left to think of a solution, because I'm too busy trying to stop you from running yourself into the ground. Do you have any idea what happened today?"

"No one died."

"Is that your standard? As long as no one dies, then no damage is done?"

"If I thought it was really serious, I would've run over."

"Really. Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, Joe, I'm sure."

"I'm not as sure as you are, Barry, because I've been speaking into thin air all day. I've been calling out your name like a crazy man, nearly had the entire police department on the lookout for you. What if you _had_ found that meta and it turned out you couldn't handle them? What if they zapped you, or whatever it is they do, and left you lying in the streets? No one else can see the victims of this guy, so you might have died!" Joe suddenly rises to his feet but manages to rein in his anger so as not to shout. "Worse," he continues, "you might have fallen into a lake or even a pond and drowned!"

"I-I didn't think of that," Barry confesses.

"Of course you didn't," Joe replies somewhat snidely. "Because you were too busy playing the angry hero looking for a chance at revenge."

"I need to catch this meta so they can't harm anyone else!" Barry points out.

"Yes," his foster father agrees. "But not at the cost of your own life or the lives of people you could save if were there."

Letting out a sad breath, Joe steps down the stairs to put a hand on either side of the hero's arms.

"I know you, Barry," he says. "When this is resolved, if you find out something terrible happened because you weren't thinking straight, you'll blame yourself. You tend to do that a lot."

"You're right," the speedster admits in a quiet voice. "It's just...This whole situation is-" pulling away, he lets out a frustrated breath, his eyes turning upwards to stare at the visible bane that is the house before him.

"I'm right with you on that," Joe says, crossing his arms over his chest. "If it were easy for us to see people we care about in pain, we couldn't call ourselves human beings." Determined, Joe drops his arms to his sides as he manages to lock eyes with the hero. "Let's just put our own feelings behind us for now and finally figure this out, okay?"

"I will," Barry vows. "But...You stay out here. I don't want to see you get hurt. Physically or mentally."

"Fine," Joe relents, stepping out of the hero's way. "Call if you need help."

In a second, Barry is back in the house.

　

Everything looks the same as it had before; not even a pillow looks out of place.

Standing in the master bedroom, Barry tries to wrack his brain with what to do.

Then...he smells it...Peanut butter...

' _Peanut butter?_ ' Barry confirms, confused and wondering if he had lost it. ' _Am I falling into the evil elephant nightmare?_ '

The darkness that drew him into Len's nightmare hadn't happened again, so the hero dismissed the possibility that he was entering Mr. Totras' version of that horrid world. The man wasn't even around to be tortured, so why would the meta bother?

The speedster double checks the kitchen to no avail.

' _Then where is it coming from?_ '

It finally clicks and Barry curses himself as he enters the master bedroom once more.

Getting to his hands and knees, the hero looks under the king size bed and sees something unexpected: a child.

A little girl with large, completely black eyes stares back at Barry as she tries to hide behind her brown hair while scooting as far back as possible, her dress sliding up as she does to expose her too thin legs. In her left hand there's an open jar of peanut butter, the top abandoned near the leg of the bed. The smell of the sweet spread hits the speedster's nose stronger as he stays in place, focus solely on the small figure that begins to tremble right in front of him.

' _This...THIS? This is the metahuman? The villain I've been envisioning is just a child? A frightened little girl hiding under the bed?_ '

The little girl brings the jar to her chest as her eyes begin to shine, belatedly warning the hero that his presence was bringing the child to tears.

"Hi there, little girl," Barry greets in his softest voice as he makes himself smile. "My name is Flash. I'm a superhero. I won't hurt you."

The attempt does nothing to bring the child out or even stop her trembling.

Darkness begins to take over Barry's vision and fear tingles all over his skin at the thought of going into his own nightmare. He had to stop this girl from sending him away. He wasn't sure if she'd still be there when he came to again and he still needed her to wake Len up!

"Hey, hey, it's alright," Barry moves away from the bed a little, still looking at the girl as he shows her his hands. "I'm not hiding anything, alright? There's nothing to be afraid of."

The darkness doesn't stop growing.

"Please," Barry begs, holding in his frustration as his body begins to weaken. "I really, really need to talk to you. I promise I won't hurt you. I'm a good guy!"

For a moment, the darkness stops and Barry holds his breath as he begins to feel hope...Then the little girl closes her eyes, causing a tear to fall across her cheek, the faint light of the sunset reflecting on it as the speedster is almost thrown entirely into a black abyss.

Barry runs at full speed out of the house.

　

Joe blinks in surprise after he's spun around by the force of the speedster arriving outside of the house. He looks to Barry, his face clearly expressing a question before he can get the words out.

"It's a child," Barry says breathlessly to explain. "Joe, there's a child in there. She's the creator of the nightmare world. I can't...I can't stop her."

The detective's eyes widen as he takes in the information, his body turning back towards the house as if he could see the aforementioned child through the walls of the building.

Just then, Barry's comms come alive with Cisco's voice.

"Hey, Barry? Are you there? Are you even listening now?"

The hero flinches at his friend's annoyed tone.

"I'm here, Cisco," he says, then awkwardly adds, "I'm, uh, sorry about...before."

"Whatever, dude, what's important now is that -even though you've been running off on a mental streak- yours truly has been doing some digging on our haunted house."

"Oh?" Barry's interest is piqued, though he's not sure how it can help him.

"It turns out that Mr. Totras reported squatters at that residence several times, half of the time being in a drunken stupor. According to what the officers submitted into the system, Mr. Totras claimed there were three people living illegally at his place but when the police came to make the arrest, they only found two people."

"Who did they arrest?" Barry quickly asks. "Does the report say anything about Mr. Totras describing the third person? Did he say it was a child?"

"Uh...It looks like two teenagers. Since this was their tenth warning and Mr. Totras was the legal owner, and had kept up on the mortgage payments, he insisted on legal action. The police have them in custody but with Mr. Totras arrested they'll probably be released soon."

Barry looks to Joe.

"I think I know how to finally end this."

　

　

Detective Joe West releases Anabelle Leev, 18, and her sister Janessa Leev, 14. The sisters are wary of the sudden arrival of a savior but keep quiet as the paperwork is filed and they're taken out of the cell. Outside the CCPD, the sisters run away from the detective. They make it several blocks before they are brought face-to-face with The Flash.

"I need your help," the speedster tells the ladies.

"You're The Flash, aren't you?" Anabelle asks. Her words are unsure but she holds herself upright as she holds a protective arm in front of her younger sister.

"Yes," the hero smiles pleasantly. "You don't have to be scared of me. I don't know what you and your sisters are going through, but I want to help. In return, I hope you can help me."

"How can we help Central City's superhero?" Anabelle asks.

"The partner of the detective that just helped get you out of jail came into contact with someone hiding in the house where you were arrested," Barry explains. The younger sister holds tighter to older as they both stiffen. "She's a metahuman, isn't she?"

"She hasn't done anything wrong," Anabelle rebukes defensively.

"I never said she did," the hero returns, though his own feelings on the matter make him feel like he's betraying his brother for the words. Then he guesses, "Is she your sister?"

Anabelle looks down then to the side at Janessa as she tugs on her arm. The younger sister bites her lower lip and shakes her head 'no' but the older one looks away unsure. Barry's heart wants to beat out of his chest and force the siblings to work with him but he forces himself to stay firm and unmoving, waiting for the reply.

The older sister sighs and the younger one's shoulders sag slightly.

"Her name is Valerie," Anabelle admits. She looks pleadingly as she leans ever so slightly towards the hero. "Please don't take her away from us! She doesn't know how to control her powers but she hasn't hurt anyone! As long as she doesn't get scared nothing happens!"

"It's okay," Barry assures her with a placating motion of his hands. "I know how hard it is to be separated from your family. I'm not about to take you from your sister. In fact, I want to bring you to her. I'm hoping you can convince her to help me."

Anabelle nods in agreement while simultaneously giving Janessa a reassuring squeeze on her hand.

The speedster runs the sisters to the house where Joe is just pulling in front of in his car.

"I hope you weren't thinking I'd sit back for this after doing my part," the detective says after getting out of the vehicle.

"You're part still isn't done," Barry points out. "After we've helped Len, we'll need to help these girls out."

Joe nods in agreement then smiles as he gives the sisters a small wave. Janessa wiggles her fingers in a return, then hides further behind her sister.

Turning to the sisters, Barry explains, "She's still in the house, hiding under the bed."

"It's where we told her to hide," Anabelle nods. She heads in first, inadvertently dragging Janessa with her and Barry follows behind.

Going into the house behind the sisters makes Barry feel like a guest of a haunted house attraction. Everything is still dark but Anabelle walks with confidence as if she can see everything. Janessa being so close makes it easier for her to pull off the flawless stride and they all enter the bedroom in seconds.

Just inside the doorway, Janessa lets go of her older sister to put an arm in front of the hero.

"Wait," she orders in a mouse-like voice, her head lowered and eyes on the floor.

"Okay," Barry agrees, making his body remain still.

"Baby V," Anabelle sings out softly as lies down on the floor at the end side of the bed. She giggles as she looks under it. "What are you doing, silly girl? You're supposed to use a spoon."

Scrawny arms come out from under the bed and claw at the older girl until they can wrap around her neck. Anabelle pulls the smaller body out and brings it up with herself, holding the small girl that barely looks old enough to attend school in her arms protectively as the legs follow suite with the arms to cling tightly onto her.

Valerie looks pale in Anabelle's arms and her continued trembling makes her look delicate.

' _Am I really that frightening?_ ' Barry can't help but wonder. ' _Or has she gone through something so horrible that she's frightened of anyone she meets?_ '

"Valerie," Anabelle sing-songs again as she rocks her sister in her arms. "were you playing tricks while J-Bird and I were gone?"

The smallest of the sisters nods her head against the shoulder where it rests.

"I see," the eldest says. With a small sigh, she adds, "Would you like to meet of friend of mine?"

Valerie shakes her head several times in revulsion to the idea before trying to duck her head into her sister's chest.

"Come now, V, that's not very nice," Anabelle chides lightly. She nudges her sister on the shoulder with her nose. "If we're nice to my friend, he might buy us an ice cream."

The possibility for dessert slowly raises the little girl's head. Janessa lowers her arm, silently giving permission for Barry to get closer.

"Hey, Valerie," the hero smiles pleasantly to the child but she doesn't look at him. "I was wondering, do you think you could help wake my friend up?" Barry waits for a reply but when the older sisters frown and he doesn't get one, he presses on. "You remember him, right? He came last night with a flashlight. His name is Len. You made him fall asleep."

"The people Valerie send into slumber wake up on their own," Anabelle tells the hero. "It's always been that way."

' _That's not something I want to hear right now._ ' Barry's polite smile feels painful as he looks to the eldest sister.

"That might be how it's been in the past, but something must've gone wrong because Len has been unconscious since your sister put him to sleep."

"It's not her fault," Janessa's mousy voice speaks defensively.

"That Wells guy did this to her," Anabelle adds, putting a hand behind her sister's head and turning her body away from the speedster.

"I'm not blaming Valerie," Barry quickly amends. "I'm merely telling you the facts. We actually came in here together. I shared the same nightmare as he did. The only difference is that I woke up, but he didn't."

Brow furrowed, Anabelle pulls back her hand to look her youngest sister's face over carefully.

"Did you do something different, honey V?" she asks tenderly, to which the girl shakes her head vigorously. Biting her lower lip, Anabelle goes silent for a few minutes as she looks into the distance, her mind a million miles away.

"Okay," the eldest decides as she looks to the speedster. "We'll go with you wherever your friend Len is. Maybe Valerie will know what happened to him once she sees him.

The mentioned child shakes her head in disagreement to the plan but her oldest sister hushes her quietly while stroking the back of her hair.

"It'll be okay," Anabelle assures the one in her arms. She looks over to the one still standing near the doorway. "Don't you remember? I'm in charge of protecting you."

Both younger sisters accept the order, albeit with clear hesitation. Anabelle smiles at them appreciatively, although only Janessa sees it.

Focusing on The Flash once more, Anabelle jerks her head in a 'go ahead' motion while saying, "After you."

　

\- - -

　

In STAR Labs, both Caitlin and Cisco await the sisters in the medical wing with Barry. Joe had played taxi driver while the speedster ran back to prepare the scientists for their guests.

After entering the building, Valerie had been coaxed to stand on her own two feet, though she refused to let go of Anabelle's hand. Even Janessa remained within two steps of the eldest as they followed the detective to the room where an unconscious Len lay in bed, motionless.

"Ah, he's cute, Valerie," Anabelle says after seeing the sleeping man. The comment makes Caitlin stifle a laugh in her hand as the sister looks down to the child. "Why did you make him fall asleep? Was he making scary noises?"

Valerie waves the open palm of her free hand in front of her face a few times in reply.

"I see," the eldest nods. "It was dark, so you were scared. Because J-Bird and I were gone, you thought someone was coming for you too?"

The child nods.

After crouching down, Anabelle is able to take both of her sister's hands in hers.

"Do you know how to wake him up, baby bird?"

Valerie shakes her head.

"Are you sure?" her sister strains slightly.

The little one pulls her entire lower lip into her mouth as she looks to the sleeping man. Shrugging, she looks down to her feet, lip still trapped in her mouth.

"Uhm, can I suggest something?" Caitlin asks quietly, earning the room's attention. "Why don't we have Valerie use her powers in a safe room so that Cisco and I can analyze it? Maybe once we know how it works, we can figure out a way to wake Len up?"

Valerie makes a noise of distress as she wraps both arms around Anabelle's upper arm and holds tight. The room starts to darken for the scientist and she rubs at her eyes as she takes a step back as if to avoid it.

"Now, now," Anabelle rebukes softly as she pats her sister on the back. "That lady just asked a question. Nobody said you had to do anything, right? So you better stop being so silly."

The darkness vanishes as the little girl loosens her grip on her sister.

A thought dawns on Barry and he quickly crouches down to ask the child, "Can you put me in his dream?"

Baleful, black eyes turn to the speedster, silently asking him to continue.

"You did it before, right?" Barry presses with hope. "You put me in his dream before." He pats his chest then points to Len. "Can you do it again?"

Valerie blinks slowly once, twice, then she carefully nods.

"Great," the hero nearly falls the rest of the ground in relief.

"Wait a minute," Joe protests. "How is you going back into the nightmare helpful?"

"I don't know," Barry admits, looking up to his foster father. "But I know I can't leave Len in that world alone. Something _must_ be stopping him from waking up. Maybe if I go back in, I can figure it out."

"You were already in there with him," Caitlin needlessly reminds the man. "You didn't notice anything waking up before, what do you think you will see the second time around?"

"I said I didn't know," Barry hates how much he's being forced to repeat himself. "What I know is what I went through with Len. If he's still going through all that then, at the _very least_ , I can't let him do it alone."

The room goes silent. Anabelle picks up her sister as she stands again, placing the young girl on her hip for a more comfortable hold as she looks at the hero.

"What do you people mean by 'nightmare'?" she asks innocently.

Caitlin steps in to answer, "After The Flash fell asleep, he woke in a nightmare. There was a criminal after him and Len. They were both..." she hesitates for a second, then finishes, "hurt in the dream."

"I was worried about that..." Anabelle looks to the sister in her arms. "Valerie has only ever put people who scared her to sleep. We didn't think anything of it since they always woke up the next day. Then that Totters guy kept randomly showing up, scaring Valerie every time he did. While he was sleeping, we'd escape the house and hide in the shed outside to wait for him to leave. After the third time of hearing him scream himself awake, I started to wonder if something strange might be happening to them after they fell asleep." She looks to the others sadly. "She didn't mean it. We lost our parents during the explosion. I've been trying my hardest to keep us together but the state keeps trying to put Janessa and Valerie in foster homes. Without a stable job, they won't let me have legal custody of them but I won't allow my family to be torn apart while I'm still breathing."

Guilt washes over Barry like a tide as sympathy for the siblings blossoms in his heart. All the dark, angry thoughts he had for the meta who had harmed his brother filled him with regret. This wasn't about a malicious person purposely putting people in harm. This was a sad story of a frightened girl who just wanted to be with the ones she loved. Joe's words about him blaming himself repeat unhelpfully in his head and he was grateful that he at least didn't have a lost life on his conscious.

"Don't worry," the hero assures the sisters. "You've got me to help you now. I won't let you be separated anymore."

"You have all of us," Caitlin corrects, earning an appreciative smile from her friend.

"I'll do everything I can," Joe adds.

"That's all fine and dandy, but what about Len?" Cisco points out.

Freeing her lower lip, Valerie reaches out a small hand to the sleeping man's form. The whites of her eyes turn black then she disappears, leaving her sister to appear as though she were supporting air. Len disappears next, though his body's presence remains visible on the bed. Barry's vision begins to darken as he feels weak. Caitlin ushers him to the empty bed in the room that he gladly accepts before falling completely into the darkness.

　

　

' _Wait. If Len is still in the nightmare, then why was I able to see him? He had vanished before...._ '

The belated thought comes to Barry right before he snaps his eyes open to a wooden ceiling. Quickly sitting up, he looks around what appears to be a child's bedroom. A rocket ship nightlight plugged into a socket beside the open doorway illuminates the bedroom and shines partially into the hallway beyond. Wherever he was now, it wasn't the Totras house from before.

Barry gets out of the small bed and heads for the doorway. He hears something but it's too faint for him to make out what it is, so he decides to find the source. There's a faint light coming up from the stairway and he uses it as a guide to take him to the first floor. At the bottom of the stairs, the noise is loud enough for Barry to make out the distinct sound of sniffles. Someone was crying. By the strength of the noise, it was someone small, most likely a child.

Following the trail of light as he did the faint sound, Barry finds both in the middle of a beer bottle littered living room where a small boy holding a tiny bear in his hands cries under a single, swinging lightbulb.

"Len?" Barry calls out to the child. There's no response but something inside Barry _knows_ it's his brother.

Fearing the arrival of Len's father any second, Barry doesn't waste time making his way across the minefield of bashed bottles in order to kneel beside the crying boy.

"Hey there, slugger," Barry says in imitation of his father in hopes it will calm the smaller version of his brother. "What are you crying about?"

With a deep sniff, the boy lifts his head to blink his shining blue eyes at the brunette, solidifying the man's intuition that it was indeed his foster sibling.

"It's all my fault," small Len says woefully.

"What's your fault?" Barry asks, confused.

The child sniffles three times in a row before answering, "Everyone I love leaves me. It's because I'm a bad person! No one wants to be around a bad person! No one!"

The last words are a shout that turns into a hear wrenching sob before little Len drops his head onto his knees that he curls up to his chest, the bear now clasped tightly in one hand while the other holds onto his arm to keep his head hidden.

"Len..." Barry sits on the floor beside his shrunken brother to wrap both his arms around his shoulders, holding him tight as he continues to cry.

"Leonard Allen West, you are not alone," Barry says with conviction as he gives him a short squeeze. "I know you're scared right now, but you don't have to be." He smiles sadly as the small head of his brother turns slightly in his direction. "After all, I'm right here."

The boy sniffs as he fully lifts his head again, the bear-less arm wiping at his eyes as he stares curiously at the speedster.

"Who are you?" little Len asks. He tilts his head inquisitively. "You look familiar."

"I'm your younger brother, Barry," the brunette answers with a proud smile. "Don't forget, we both have terrible first names. Mine's Bartholomew."

Little Len snorts and Barry inwardly pumps his fist.

"But...wait..." the boy frowns. "I don't have a brother anymore. He..." He pulls his legs in tighter. "He died..."

"I didn't die, Len," Barry assures him. "We were in a nightmare. I was right about there being a metahuman. It's a little girl. She sent us into your nightmare where you thought your father killed me. But I'm alive!"

"No, it can't be," little Len shakes his head as he tries to push away from the hero.

"It's really me, Len!" Barry strains as he resolutely holds his brother close. "I'm not dead! Touch me! Heck! Punch me!"

"NoNoNoNoNo," the boy continues to try pushing away as he shakes his head. "First, my mother ran away. Then Lisa moved away. Even Iris left the city. No one's left. You're dead. Joe will hate me. I can't- This isn't-"

The tears begin again as little Len shakes his head in disbelief, his eyes anywhere but the hero's face who looks at him pleadingly.

"Len, come on! It's me!" Barry takes his brother's hand that's holding the bear. "I know about this bear, Len. Your mother gave it to you when you were born. When you were young, you couldn't sleep without it. One night, you forgot it and came downstairs to get it, pretending to need water so your father wouldn't think you were a baby."

"Stop. You can't know that. You're dead," little Len tries to interrupt, his voice deepening to his older self at the end.

Hearing his brother's older self gives Barry hope. He takes hold of that hope as he continues, "That night, you met someone strange. You said he reminded you of Mick, your juvie friend. Your dad pointed a gun at him. It was the last time your father protected you."

The tears suddenly stop as little Len stiffens.

"Even though your birth father no longer deserves such a title, you found a new father with Joe West. You found a family with me and Iris." Barry doesn't know if anything is getting through to his brother but he can't stop talking until he gets everything off his chest. "I know Lisa leaving upset you, Len, but she isn't gone forever. She's only in college. She'll be back for breaks and -who knows?- she'll probably live in Central once she's finished her studies. And Iris is only gone for a short vacation with Eddie. They aren't gone. You didn't chase them away. You are _not_ a bad person!"

Without knowing it, Barry's speech had become desperate, leaving him gasping for air as his body tries to regain lost oxygen.

In a blink, little Len is all grown up again. Barry's hands are now on his brother's forearm as the other man turns his head to look at him strangely.

"Barry?" he breathes out and there are more questions in that one name than the bearer can decipher.

"Yeah, it's me," Barry smiles in relief. Sarcasm steals away the serious air as he asks, "Do you think you can wake up now, please? Hanging out in your subconscious isn't very fun."

　

\- - -

　

Barry opens his eyes to the familiar world of STAR Labs' medical room. Adrenaline shoots him upright to look over to his brother's bed. Len's wakes in slow blinks, his mouth turned downwards in a displeased expression as his eyes dart around the room.

"Len!" the speedster calls out happily as he darts to his brother's side in half a millisecond. "How are you feeling? Are you awake? Does your head hurt? Do you have any pain?"

"Geeze, Barry, give the man some room to breathe," Cisco's voice jokingly rebukes.

Belatedly, the hero realizes he isn't alone. Caitlin is standing at the foot of Len's bed while Cisco stands closer to the doorway; Joe and the Leev sisters are out of sight.

"Where-?" Barry begins to ask but stops at a wave from his friend.

"Joe took the ladies out for something to eat," Cisco says as he walks further into the room to stand on the other side of Len's bed. "You had been out of it for at least an hour when he decided not to force them to wait for you pair of lazy butts."

Without a word, Len reaches out a hand to press three of his fingers against Barry's stomach.

"Ah, right," Barry unzips the top of his suit and removes it to show his brother his unharmed middle. "I'm fine. See?" He pats his abs. "Fit as a fiddle! We were in a nightmare, so I was never really hurt!"

"It hurt," Len replies quietly as he lightly traces a finger over the place where a jagged cut shout be. "When I was choked."

The memory of the nightmare snuffs some of Barry's enthusiasm but he's quick to replace it with the facts, "It was all in our minds. As complex and intelligent as it is, our brain can sometimes make mistakes."

Len's hand drops back onto the bed as his head vaguely nods.

He looks to Caitlin. "Am I really awake?"

Cisco promptly pinches him.

"Did you feel that?" he asks, avoiding the 'shame on you' look his friends give him.

"Barry just said that things in the dream feel like reality," Len points out, unaffected by the sudden attack as he looks to the attacker. "So...How do I know that I'm really...real?"

"Because I have powers," Barry answers, showing off a feat by changing into regular clothes and returning in seconds. "In the nightmare I couldn't use my powers. Even though I know I'm The Flash, somehow that didn't get drawn into the nightmare."

"I see..." Even though Len says the two words softly, his body visibly relaxes, the tension draining away to acceptance as he looks to Caitlin once more. "How long were we out?"

"I woke up the next morning," Barry answers.

"You decided to take an extra day," Cisco adds. "That is, _after_ Barry dragged your brain out of the darkness."

"Why didn't I wake up with Barry?" Len asks, looking to the genius who just shrugs at him.

"Do you remember anything after the Totras house?" Barry questions.

After a moment of thought, Len shakes his head. He looks to his brother.

"Why? Should I? Did we go somewhere else?"

"It's not important," Barry tells him, not wanting to bring his brother's weakness out into the light, knowing it would make him uncomfortable. He pats his brother on the shoulder, suddenly needing the reassurance of physical contact. "I'd tell you to get some rest but I think you've had enough of that. You want to go out for a beer instead?"

Len smirks and Barry's world returns to spinning at its normal speed.

 

\--- - ---


	5. End It

True to their word, Team Flash helps the Leev sisters, with assistance of a close friend. Dr. Martin Stein's wife agrees to take the sisters into her home as their foster mother. She finds a job for Anabelle so that the girl can work her way towards taking over custody of her sisters in the future.

"I've been feeling lonely since Martin and Ronnie began working together," Mrs. Martin joked with the others. She had personally offered her home and heart to the trio of young ladies after hearing their story from Joe and his request for help.

　

The Team decides to keep the events from Lisa and Iris, not wanting to stress the rest of the family out over something that had already passed.

Len had gone right back to work the day after he woke, outwardly behaving as though nothing had happened at all. It makes Barry more uneasy for the things he still wants to say to his brother.

　

　

On their next lunch break together, Barry buys lunch and convinces Len to eat on the roof of the precinct where no one will be able to overhear them.

"Looks like rain," Len comments lightly as he tilts his head to the grey clouds hanging overhead.

"The weatherman said there's only a forty percent chance of rain for now but it's supposed to be a downpour tonight," Barry states. He hands over the sandwich for his brother before unwrapping and taking a bite of his own.

"Is one going to be enough for you?" the older remarks as he just holds the sandwich in his hands, uninterested in the food.

"I ate some power bars with breakfast and haven't run around much, so I should be good for now," the younger answers before taking another bite. He motions to his brother's sandwich with his own as he full-mouth asks, "Not hungry?"

Len looks at the sandwich with sad eyes and a small smile.

"I'm just wondering what strings come with it," he answers softly.

Barry swallows the chewed food over the sudden lump in his throat then he quickly guzzles down half of his juice.

"Whatever it is, it's fine," Len continues with a sigh at the end. He puts the sandwich in his brother's lap to free up the hand for his drink. "It's not as if I'm that useful anyway."

' _Another bout of depression? Did he remember the second dream?_ '

Barry lifts the returned sandwich and pokes at his brother with it.

"Hey, what are you on about?" he rebukes with a touch of sarcasm. When he's ignored, he starts to wave the wrapped sandwich as he adds, "Do I have to drag in every person you've ever helped in front of you one-by-one? With your phone, I know I can make one call and someone whose life has been turned around will arrogantly tell you that you're important. He might hit on you, though, and that's creepy, so please don't make me do that."

A small smirk breaks out on Len's face and Barry smiles widely for it.

"Come on," the speedster coaxes until the sandwich is finally taken back.

Barry patiently waits for half of Len's sandwich to be eaten before talking again, his food and drink long gone at this point and making him sick.

"There is something I wanted to talk to you about," he confesses, inwardly flinching as his brother stiffens beside him. "Our time together means everything to me, Len. Seeing you get hurt is a living nightmare for me. I already know I can't stop you from being a detective, but can you blame me for not wanting to put you in more danger? All the protectiveness you feel for me, I feel the same for you. You hate it when any of us get hurt and I'm no different than that. Can you understand that, Len?"

"Ah..." Len's body relaxes again and the smirk returns to his face, though it's different. "You're still on about that, are you?"

"What else could possibly be bothering me?" Barry joke-asks. "You wanting to run around at night chasing bad guys is at the forefront of my mind right now."

"Don't worry," his brother assures him as he looks to the remainder of his food. "I already gave up on that."

_"It's not as if I'm that useful anyway."_

Inwardly cursing himself, Barry quickly says, "It's not as if I don't think you're helpful, Len. You're amazing! I just need you to be amazing in other ways."

"Barry," Len turns his head to his brother to look him in the eyes. "Drop it, okay? I already said I gave up." He stands and his brother mirrors him. "You just be your painfully peppy self..." After a glance at the half sandwich, Len shoves it into Barry's chest for the brunette to hold. "And I'll be my usual grumpy self. Okay?"

Len starts to walk away and Barry takes a step after him as he starts to speak again.

"But-"

"I'm fine."

The older brother turns his head to the side so the younger can see his profile.

"Really, Barry," Len tells him in a low but firm voice. "I'm fine."

Defeated, but not wanting to press the issue, Barry watches Len walk away from him and out of sight. There's nothing more he can say to assure his brother, no words of insight or wisdom to get through the other man's head. The only thing Barry knew to do now was be there for Len when he needed him. Something he planned on doing for as long as possible.

 

 

\--- - ---

**Author's Note:**

> To my dear readers who know of this Series and have been patiently waiting for an update::: I'm sorry.
> 
> **I do NOT own the Show or the Characters.**


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